'Rent' at the Hollywood Bowl: Miss

Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

It seemed like a good idea on paper, right? Neil Patrick Harris, himself a veteran of the Ahmanson Theatre's cast of "Rent" way back in 1997 and not to mention other musical-theater roles, took to the director's chair to stage the late Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer-winning play at the Bowl. The "Rent" cast even included "names" like Vanessa Hudgens and Wayne Brady. But the venue's space and rehearsal-time constrictions might have been too much, says Times theater critic Charles McNulty: "Harris can do almost anything in my book, but he wasn't able to figure out the spatial and logistical challenges of mounting a full-scale musical at the Bowl."

It seemed like a good idea on paper, right? Neil Patrick Harris, himself a veteran of the Ahmanson Theatre's cast of "Rent" way back in 1997 and not to mention other musical-theater roles, took to the director's chair to stage the late Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer-winning play at the Bowl. The "Rent" cast even included "names" like Vanessa Hudgens and Wayne Brady. But the venue's space and rehearsal-time constrictions might have been too much, says Times theater critic Charles McNulty: "Harris can do almost anything in my book, but he wasn't able to figure out the spatial and logistical challenges of mounting a full-scale musical at the Bowl." (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

It seemed like a good idea on paper, right? Neil Patrick Harris, himself a veteran of the Ahmanson Theatre's cast of "Rent" way back in 1997 and not to mention other musical-theater roles, took to the director's chair to stage the late Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer-winning play at the Bowl. The "Rent" cast even included "names" like Vanessa Hudgens and Wayne Brady. But the venue's space and rehearsal-time constrictions might have been too much, says Times theater critic Charles McNulty: "Harris can do almost anything in my book, but he wasn't able to figure out the spatial and logistical challenges of mounting a full-scale musical at the Bowl."